Zapier vs. Make Pricing in 2026: What Automation Really Costs a Small Team

Zapier and Make both automate work between apps, but they price it differently. Zapier charges per task, which is a successful action step. Make charges per credit, which is mostly one per module run. At 1,000 steps a month, Make's entry plan costs about $9 and Zapier's matching tier costs about $49 on annual billing.

This comparison is for owners and managers who want to connect apps without hiring a developer and need to know what the bill will look like. It lists current plan prices, explains how each tool counts usage, and runs two worked examples. Little iApps reads the pricing pages so you can see the cost at your size, not the cost in the headline.

How Do Zapier's Plans Price Out?

Zapier sells plans by task volume. According to Zapier's pricing page, the Free plan includes 100 tasks a month, limited to two-step Zaps with 15-minute polling. Professional starts at $19.99 a month on annual billing, or $29.99 monthly, for 750 tasks.

The Team plan starts at $69 a month annually, or $103.50 monthly, for 2,000 tasks. It adds 25 seats, shared app connections, single sign-on and priority support. Higher task tiers cost more, so the headline price is an entry point, not a final quote.

Counting rules matter. Each successful action step uses a task, and failed actions are not counted. Triggers, polling and built-in tools such as Filter, Paths and Formatter do not use tasks. All tasks come from one shared pool across the account.

How Do Make's Plans Price Out?

Make sells capability more than volume. A comparison published in September 2026, which checked prices that month, lists Core at $9 a month on annual billing or $10.59 monthly. Pro is $16 or $18.82, and Teams is $29 or $34.12. Each paid plan includes 10,000 credits a month.

A second check by WBCOM Designs in June 2026 shows the same figures. Make's own page confirms the Free plan at 1,000 credits and says most actions cost one credit. Iterators charge one credit per item processed, so a loop over many records costs more than one credit.

Unused credits expire at the end of the term. Extra credits come in bundles of 1,000 or 10,000. Businesses with fewer than 20 employees may qualify for a start-up discount, according to Make's pricing terms.

What Does a Workflow Cost at 1,000 Steps a Month?

Take a simple example. A new web form entry creates a contact, adds a row to a sheet, sends a Slack message and emails the customer. That is four action steps. Run it 250 times a month and you use about 1,000 actions.

On Zapier, 1,000 tasks is more than Professional's 750 at the entry tier. The next tier, 2,000 tasks, is listed at $49 a month annually or $73.50 monthly. That is the realistic Zapier price for this workflow.

On Make, the same 1,000 actions use roughly 1,000 of the 10,000 credits on Core. The price is $9 a month annually or $10.59 monthly. Make comes out about $40 cheaper a month at this volume, based on the list prices above.

Your numbers will differ because of how steps are counted. Zapier does not count filters, and Make does not charge for routers or error handlers. A workflow with several filters may use fewer billable steps than it seems.

What Does a Workflow Cost at 5,000 Steps a Month?

Now scale up. Suppose an order-processing flow has ten action steps and runs 500 times a month, for 5,000 actions. That is a plausible load for a small online shop.

On Make, 5,000 credits still fits inside the 10,000 included on Core, so the list price stays at $9 annually. Credits can disappear faster if the flow loops over line items, since iterators charge per item. A ten-item order with a loop may cost far more than ten credits.

On Zapier, 5,000 tasks sits between the 2,000-task tier and the 10,000-task tier. Zapier does not publish every tier price in the pages we checked, so get a quote from the plan selector. Going over a tier can trigger overage billing, which Zapier says is 2.5 times the base rate on monthly plans or 1.25 times on annual plans.

Planning for overages is part of pricing. A tool that is cheap until you pass a limit can cost more than a plan one step up. Pick the tier that gives you room, not one that runs at 99 percent.

Which Tool Is Easier for a Non-Technical Team?

Zapier is generally the simpler tool for linear workflows, and most reviews say so. Its app library is larger, and building a basic two-step automation takes minutes. Teams with no technical staff often pick it for that reason.

Make is stronger for branching logic, loops and data handling, and its visual canvas shows the whole flow. That power comes with a steeper learning curve. A team that will maintain automations for years should weigh the learning time against the monthly savings.

Connector counts differ across sources, so ignore any single number. Check that both tools support the specific apps you use, such as your accounting package, CRM and payment processor. A missing connector costs more than any price gap.

What Extra Costs Hide Behind These Plans?

The plan price is the visible part. Hidden costs show up in premium apps, seats and support. Zapier's Free plan excludes premium apps and webhooks, so a team that needs either must upgrade at once.

Seats are the second trap. Zapier's Professional plan has one seat, and Team has 25 with shared app connections. A small agency where three people build automations may need Team just to share connections, which moves the entry price from $19.99 to $69.

Polling speed is the third factor. Free Zapier plans check for new data every 15 minutes, Professional every 2 minutes, and Team every minute. A lead form that takes 15 minutes to reach your sales inbox can cost real deals.

Finally, factor in your own time. A cheaper tool that takes ten extra hours to build and fix flows is not cheaper if your hours cost $50 each. That is an extra $500 in the first month, which wipes out a year of savings at the example prices above.

What Happens When a Workflow Breaks?

Every automation breaks eventually. A connected app changes its login, a field gets renamed, or a service goes down. Check how each platform shows errors and lets you replay failed runs.

Zapier does not count failed actions toward your tasks, which is a small kindness when something goes wrong. Make's error handler modules do not consume credits, and its credits cover most other operations. Both give you a history to inspect.

Set up an alert to a shared inbox, not one person's email. A broken flow that nobody notices can quietly drop orders for days.

How Do You Pick Without Overpaying?

List your automations and count the action steps in each. Multiply by how often each one runs per month. Add a buffer of 25 percent for growth. That total is the number to compare against each plan.

Then ask three questions. Will you need multi-step logic or branching? Who will maintain the flows? Do you need more than one user? Seat limits differ, as Zapier's Professional plan has one seat and Team has 25. Make's plan features also change across tiers.

Price is not the only cost. Our look at switching from QuickBooks Online after the 2026 price increase covers what a move costs in hours. The same applies if you migrate automations between tools, since flows must be rebuilt by hand.

It also helps to compare with other suites. See our Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace pricing comparison for how bundled tools change the math. Some office suites include basic automation, which may cover small needs for free.

For another example of full-cost thinking, our article on what a health spending account costs a Canadian small business shows how fees and admin charges add to a headline rate. Little iApps applies the same checklist to every pricing piece.

Conclusion

Make is cheaper at small-team volumes, and Zapier is easier to start with. The difference in how each tool counts usage matters more than the sticker price, so count your own steps before you decide. Start on a free plan, build one real workflow, and check the usage dashboard after a week. Pricing changes often, so confirm each vendor's page on the day you buy.